The effects of phonological awareness instruction on beginning word recognition and spelling.

This investigation examined the effects of phonological awareness instruction on four children, aged 8-9 years, with complex communication needs (CCN) who used augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). During Experiment 1 all four children acquired letter/sound correspondence and phoneme awareness at varying levels. One child reached criterion. Three children maintained their skills and one child generalized to 10 untaught letters/sounds. During Experiment 2 one of four children reached criterion in beginning word recognition and improved her post-intervention word identification. Three children increased their spelling ability. The results are interpreted within the framework of current theory and are suggestive of the skills children with complex communication needs may need in order to acquire early decoding skills.